


facet.

by JenelleLucia



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), actually, double posting today?, hi i'm back, this is postwar, whoa :)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:09:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29894046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenelleLucia/pseuds/JenelleLucia
Summary: there's another shelf to be done. // or, hilda being a wonderful teacher. entry for blossom: a hilda fashion-zine
Kudos: 2





	facet.

**Author's Note:**

> hi, i'll come up with proper notes in my next post but these are (and very overdue, at that) my pieces for the wonderful hilda zine i was in months ago! thanks for enjoying, and if you do get the fanzine let me know if you find these lovely pieces. everyone worked so hard! i made some small edits here and there that might not have made it into the zine. it's been a while since i've come across these pieces! 
> 
> come yell at me: @jenellexlucia

That’s another shelf done.

Hilda takes a step back from where she initially stands, eyes scanning over the different accessories stands and earring trees that line one of her (many) shelves. She contemplates where each one is for a moment, then shaking her head and taking one of the earring trees down. This one didn’t look quite right.   
  
“I’ll have to fix this tree all over again…” she taps at her chin, then starting to take each pair down from their original placements on the shelves. She works at it for a little bit -- hoops with hoops on one branch, dangles with dangles on another, and she’s halfway through organizing the tree before she hears a knock at the door. She calls for whoever it is to come in, not looking up and instead keeping her gaze on another pair of hoops that... _ oh, goddess,  _ did one of the stones on it fall off on the shelf? She’ll find that later. 

“Professor Hilda?” she hears from the doorway. Hilda looks up and offers the speaker a smile. 

“Oh, Elias! Come in, come in.” She gestures for them to enter and to take a seat in front of her desk. “Ignore the mess. Do you have a spare citrine stone on you? I need it at about..." and she gives a rough estimate by pinching her index finger and thumb together, "this size!" 

“Um...I don’t, my apologies.” 

“That’s alright. Let me check if I have something here…” Hilda sits down and opens one of her drawers with a free hand, the offending earring in her other. Her gaze averts from that, to her student, and back and forth. “Don't mind me and all this searching, I'm listening. What can I do for you?” 

“My older sister wrote me back from the Officers’ Academy, as did my parents.” Elias watches as their professor rummages around, but she hums and nods to tell them that she’s listening. They continue. “My parents think that I’m wasting too much time here, and that I should do something productive. They want me to follow my sister to the Officers’ Academy.” 

“What?” that stops Hilda right away. She sits up a little straighter, then setting the earring down besides its match. “Hm...this is kind of a tough spot you’re in. Have you written back to them yet?” 

“My parents? No. I don’t know what to tell them.” 

“How about your sister?”

“She said she supports me and what I want to do here, but she thinks that I could probably do much better at the Officers’ Academy.” 

“That’s rough. I’m sorry, Elias.” 

“I know you went there, so...I just wanted to ask you what it was like there.” No one’s asked her about the Officers’ Academy in awhile. 

“Are you considering going there? If that’s the case, put in a good word for me.” 

“Err, I’m not making any decisions yet. I just wanted to know what it was like. It must be different from when you were there compared to my sister’s accounts of it.” That makes sense. 

“Oh, well...I was there because my older brother went there. I didn’t really have a choice,” Hilda starts. “I wouldn’t say I’m the best role model when it comes to academics, nor would I say I was a solid friend, either.” 

“Count Gloucester speaks so fondly of you! And when the King of Almyra or Lady Edmund visit our academy, you’re the first person they want to see!” Elias interjects. 

“Well, yeah. They were my best friends back then.” Hilda thinks over her latter statement and retracts that. “I _guess_ if I had best friends there, then I think I  _ was  _ a solid friend. I don’t think I was very reliable, though.” 

“Professor, you’re running an academy.” 

“ -- All of that aside,” Hilda continues, gaze averting over to the earring with the missing stone. She picks it up and inspects it, at least to have something to do. “ _ Because  _ I was there, I just felt like there were so many expectations put on me. I thought, ‘Holst’s the one who’s going to take over our house. He’s already achieved so many great things,’ you know? What was  _ I  _ going to do?” 

“What  _ did  _ you do, Professor?” Elias asks, earning a slight smile from Hilda. She pulls out a box of different stones, trying to see which ones would fit to replace the missing stone. 

“I fought in a war, of course! Did some things I’m not so proud of,” Hilda doesn’t sound so proud of it, and her gaze drifts down to the stones. She swallows. “I lost some friends. We weren’t close, but they deserved much better. It wasn’t our brightest moment, to say the least. After the war ended, I brought this place up so I could do what I wanted to do! Also helps to bring other people up in the line of work, if you ask me. It’s all the same!” 

“Even so, my condolences, Professor.”

“Don’t worry about it. All I can hope is that they’re proud of me now that I’m where I am,” Hilda then looks back at them, shaking her head. Her smile grows. “Besides, they’re bound to comment if they saw me working so hard, anyway!” She ends up shutting the box of stones up before letting out a sigh and facing her student. “Everyone has expectations for you. You just have to fulfill what  _ you _ want to do.” 

It makes sense. They thank her with a bright smile before looking down at the earring in her hand and pointing at it. 

“Um, Professor? Would you like me to work on this for you? I might have another spare stone just like the matching one,” they offer, and Hilda hands the earring to them.

“Oh, can you, Elias? You’re a gem. I’d love to see what you have ready for this one!” 

Hilda waves them off with a smile, then settling back into her chair once they shut the door. Her gaze flits from the single earring, to the portraits on the wall, and to the shelf, where there’s an empty bracket waiting to be decorated. 

There’s another shelf to be done. 


End file.
